I want to know my score! This is a must read for travelers, fiscal hawks, and critics of totalitarianism alike.If you've traveled abroad recently, you've been investigated. You've been assigned a score indicating what kind of terrorist threat you pose. That score is used by the government to determine the treatment you receive when you return to the U.S. and for other purposes as well.
Curious about your score? You can't see it. Interested in what information was used? You can't know that. Want to clear your name if you've been wrongly categorized? You can't challenge it. Want to know what kind of rules the computer is using to judge you? That's secret, too. So is when and how the score will be used. ...
Civil liberties groups have called the program Kafkaesque. But I have an even bigger problem with it. It's a waste of money.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
If you've traveled abroad recently, you've been investigated
From the invaluable Bruce Schneier:
It disgusts me and scares me at the same time. I'm more frightened of the american government and it's powers than of any supposed terror threat, and we've lived through 25 years of IRA action here as well as other foreign attacks. Even though I have done nothing wrong, I fear going into and out of America. Because of my new titanium hips, I set off all the alarms, and my bags were searched 3 times on my recent trip. I'm even worried that if I make too many short trips I'll be suspected of doing something I shouldnt, going on the questions I was asked this time.
ReplyDeleteIt must be even worse for American citizens to be subjected to the same tactics that the old Stazi used in Eastern Europe.